15 March, 2010 - The development buzzwords today may be McKinsey, FDI and economic development policy, but dzongdas, the chief executive officers in the dzongkhag who are in direct contact with rural Bhutanese, reminded the government for a need of a rural development policy.

During the 18th annual dzongda’s conference, which concluded last week, dzongdas asked if the government had such a policy.  Punakha dzongda, Kuenzang N Tshering, who tabled the issue, said that the government should think of a rural development policy that goes beyond agriculture, increased food production and preserving culture.

“In a complex country like ours, with too many sector-oriented policies that often contradict each other and make things difficult for rural people, we need a rural development policy, a road map for rural development in line with our Vision 2020 document,” said the dzongda.

“We need a policy that could help us change the lives of rural people and realise GNH.”

The dzongda pointed out that, if there were a policy, they could think now and plan how rural Bhutan could be seen in the next 15-20 years.  “Issues like rural-urban migration can’t be controlled by simply adopting laws and formulating rules and regulations without carefully looking at the linkages between the policy and changes taking place on the ground,” he said.

The issue comes at a time when the decentralisation programme of the government is being criticised for being only in name without any substance.

Talking to Kuensel, Kuenzang N Tshering said that there should an inspiring policy to realise GNH by generating competition amongst dzongkhags to accomplish their gewogs’ needs.

Thimphu dzongda, Lhab Dorji, said that some dzongkhags have developed into rich farming regions, but because of restrictive agriculture policies, some villages couldn’t excel.  “With their own policy, they can focus on the structure to develop and create farmland, for instance,” said the dzongda.

Others said that dzongkhag priorities are different and therefore an articulate policy focusing on the need of their dzongkhag was needed.  For instance, a dzongda said that forestry rules mandate the total forest coverage to be not less than 60 percent.  “But there’s no realisation among the people that it isn’t in their gewog or dzongkhag and they use the forest,” he said. “If we have our own policy, it’ll make people work to achieve their targets.”

Dzongdas, who talked to Kuensel, said that they were not asking for a separate policy because the government wasn’t doing anything. “But having a separate policy could help focus on rural development with intensive participation from the people,” said one.

Meanwhile, officials of the local government informed dzongdas that the issue would be discussed with the cabinet and the prime minister.  GNHC officials said that the issue was submitted to the prime minister and the prime minister has agreed that there is a need for such a policy.  “To identify who could be the lead agency to look into the policy requires extensive discussion and directives from the prime minister,” said the official.